Nothing is foolproof. Capitalism, Communism, Socialism or whatever else that
is out there, has its positives and negatives. Communism might have been a good
idea, but has failed miserably and so has Capitalism. India's adoption of Socialism
has created a lot of disparities too. Haphazard efforts have been made to
fix social disparities, that have existed for a long time. Quickfixes don't help.
I don't know everything about how some in Goa got to be landlords, but I have
seen landlords exploit their tenants. I have been appalled to see tenants without
proper property rights, unceremoniously thrown out. Sadly, I have seen it happen
to my own friend's family.
After 1961, a new breed of politicians created laws in Goa, that appealed to the masses.
Sometimes though, I am left to wonder as to how a lot of land in Goa came to be
in the hands of a privileged minority. There ought to have been some sort of
exploitation of the masses in the past, just as it happens in the rest of the world.
Wonder if Portuguese laws too were loaded in favour of the rich.
Nagesh Bhatcar [EMAIL PROTECTED]
PS. My last name puts me in the category of BHATCARs/landlords. Thankfully, however, my father did not inherit ANY land or tenants!
From: "Teotonio R. de Souza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To those discussing the ills of land tenancy policy in Goa, I would suggest reading Chapter XVII of the published memoirs of Jos� Francisco Martins, *In search of self-fulfilment* (Panaji, 1997) a prominent Goan freedom fighter, who analyses "the injustice done to Goans by the Tenancy Act." He personally suffered the ignominy of police assault about a couple of years ago because of the tenancy problem. Hence, the issue is a complex weaving of politics and vested interests, and cannot be explained by referring to Catholics or to Hindus, or to colonial regime or post-colonial regime.
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